When I opened the back door this morning I was severely told off by Deb's elderly cat, Blossom, she had been shut outside all night. She must have gone out when Deb took Pug out before bed, no one noticed as Deb thought that she was on her cushion in the sitting room. The cat seems OK

I have just put together the makings of an Onion Tart, pastry case is made, the onions cooked, I will assemble it later so that we can have it warm this evening with salad.

Thank you sooooo much for sending your rain down here. Though perhaps it was DD who sent a photo yesterday evening showing their moat. The whole house in York - which is large and now surrounded by quite deep water. She reckons their moles have either deveoped gills or have aqualungs!

Mr R has just gone off to Lidl to buy some storage boxes so we can finally finish the library. He was going to take the recycling ut the depot is closed today because of the strike - I forsee a difficult summer ahead.

I pick young vine leaves too Zosh. I preserve them in brine so they can be used throughout the year. There is absolutely no sign of bud break hereyet. It is very late.

Tezza would you like us to bring some rose? I could add some tapenade etc.

Cooking for those you care about is the most profound expression of love - Anne-Sophie Pic

Some Cypriot ladies blanche then freeze vine leaves. Once I was at a taverna up in the hills, Ariadne's at Vasa, when one of the guests suddenly got up, clambered over a stone wall and picked a quantity of leaves from the vines

Good morning everyone,Very wet weather here too and bitterly cold.Elder son & his gf have not long left, not the best day weatherwise for a long drive!I'm not sure when they'll next be up as my son starts a new job tomorrow so will be busy for a bit finding his feet Most of the leftovers have been consumed but I need to go through the fridge and see what might be needing either used up, frozen or ditched. I do know there is just enough gravlax left for me to have in a bagel for lunch. I also think there are chicken thighs leftoverfrom dinner on Saturday so I think dinner tonight will revolve around those As the weather is so lousy so I'm happy to have a quiet day pottering and putting the house back in order. There is also a mountain of laundry to do...

Hi everyone I am almost bursting at the seams as I have been out to lunch 3 days out of the last 4 and another lunch tomorrow (followed by an afternoon tea in Thursday) .. weight has already gone up 3 lb, but not helped by me eating the Easter buns and mini simnel cakes I have made !

I popped in to see my sister yesterday evening and we got to talking about the services available (or not) at our respective Doctor's surgery and how different was the service offered. Her surgery permanently has a recorded message saying only emergency appointments are available, however last week she was there for a check-up at 8.30 to find a completely empty waiting room (this is the norm). After 25 minutes of waiting, she asked if the doctor was in fact on the premises, only to be told that she was. Eventually the doctor appeared from another room having obviously forgotten she had a patient ! MY BiL who has severe RA was there once when a young girl came into reception to make an appointment to be told that appointments were only made over the phone. The girl explained that she had no credit on her phone. That didn't get her an appointment ! She was told someone would call her back! My sister has been told that she doesn't qualify for a Well Woman check up (she's 70) because she has had a hysterectomy (and the smear test is therefore not required) She has had high blood pressure for years, but only been given repeat prescriptions. The side effects of this medication is that she hardly sleeps ... so had requested a review and been given something that now gives her extremely low bp ... She has had to write to her doctor providing them with several days of bp readings and asking if her medication can be reviewed yet again. I am appalled, but there is no other practice within their catchment area. They used to have 6 doctors practicing there. Any 'good' doctors soon move on. The practice is now down to 2 female doctors who seem unable to retain any new recruits or locums ... By comparison I am so lucky with the service my Health Centre provides.

Interesting one Patsy, my practice which was excellent has just folded (the two senior partners are retiring and they couldn't find replacements). For the next month it is being run by the NHS by locums ad hoc so appointments are only available on the day until we get transferred to allocated to another practice in the town. I've no idea how this will work but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I have no flare ups before things settle. It's a bit of a worry to be honest

Lots of rain here yesterday but we weren't here, we were going through all the seasons, snow, sleet & flood to arrive in sunny Wales with a builder.The structural survey has been done on the house, I wont get a report until later this week but the surveyor has given me in big bits, to do what we want will be a big job but we love the house so much we will go through the renovation pain

Don't get me started on cr@p doctors, ours are impossible at appointments & once in, the Drs are useless, at my last appointment last year she asked me what I thought was wrong....then proceeded to type it into goggle

We're so lucky with our GP practice ... we get appointments with our own doctors virtually when we want them, within reason. We can always see a Duty GP or a Practice Nurse who can prescribe ... they have Saturday surgeries ... (on a Sunday and Bank Holidays there's a Walk In Centre in the city which, in our experience so far, has been good) ... they do small ops in their own clinic ... and all the staff are patient and humane ... one of the reasons we chose this house is because although it's further out of the city it's still within the practice boundary ... one road further out and we'd have had to change. We know how lucky we are nowadays.

My practice is small, and the receptionists are excellent. There are only two permanent doctors, and one of them is part time, so I always see the same woman

She does use computer search, but not Google, if she is thinking of prescribing something she doesn't prescribe too often she checks in the BNF both for side effects and contraindications and the spelling!

Zosherooney wrote:I popped out a minuscule tear drop shaped pod, cleaned the area with TCP and he seems a happier moggie.

Never use TCP or Dettol or Jeyes Fluid or Lysol on or around cats, they are very sensitive to phenolic disinfectants which are toxic to them (there's an article abou tthis on the same cat world site, but referring to US brand names)

One off probably won't hurt, but not a good idea. Savlon is safer for both cats and dogs, and has a bonus in that they hate the taste so don't lick the wound so much

Back home again - have been with a poorly friend whose husband was in the same regiment as mine - I'm afraid we both made bad choices as they were as guilty as each other when it came to infidelity! Still, I made a good choice the second time around.

I'm hoping to go and see my Sis in Lanzarote for a few days soon - it should be warming up quite nicely out there.

I cannot complain about the practice I'm with. It is quite large but very well run and very kindly too. The receptionist always asks after my cat as she remembers when I went into hospital for my hip replacement I was worried about Lulu!!

Did I say I was giving up my car? Well I am as my hands are getting full of arthritis and my right hip has started to complain too - I have an automatic but I still have to use my right foot for the brake. We have an excellent bus service thank goodness and a bus stop very close but I dare say I shall miss it and my independence.

Hope all are well - sausages (home made ones) for supper and a little tipple too I expect

Mary J

Last edited by FoodMary on April 3rd, 2018, 2:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Over the past few weeks, we cannot fault our GP surgery as it has been superb. There's a Duty Doctor on every day through the week and an out of hours service for when it's closed. Unfortunately, over the past couple of years hundreds of houses have been built so phoning can take for ever sometimes but not always. Rang about 12.30 pm today, receptionist answered before all the announcements had finished!

Receptionists on the desk remain so cheerful despite some quite aggressive customers!

Every day is a good day, it's just that some days are better than others.

I have had a health scare recently which brought sharply into focus that I need my healthcare to be delivered in Yorkshire where we are spending more time rather than Manchester, my registered address.

The local practice is the one I worked in twenty odd years ago, but all the GP’s have now retired, it has a reputation of being difficult to get appointments, a routine appointment is a four week wait. However, I rang and explained my predicament (a suspicious lump), the very plesent receptionist advised me to come down and complete new patients registration forms which I duly did. I got a telephone triage appointment later that day and was seen the next morning by a female GP, who despite not having my notes referred me for an urgent scan. The scan was booked for six days later and I had the results last Thursday, nine working days in total. So I can’t complain.

A bit of a different story regarding getting my repeat prescriptions set up, a four week wait for a GP appointment to authorise their set up. Still, the system worked when I needed it to.

My old practice in Manchester was always very accessible, never having to wait more than 48 hours for an appointment. However, they let you have three months repeat medication at a time which as a patient is very convenient but not best practice. Also, I used to work in a GP training practice and there was only one time we didn’t sign off a trainee but made him repeat the six month rotation .........he ended up as a partner where I was registered, I never had total confidence in him as a patient.

The other benefit of being registered here in Yorkshire is that we qualify to have our medications dispensed by the GP, now that is convenient!

BB

P.S the lump turned out to not be cancerous. Phew doesn’t even begin to cover it.

What has surprised me, along with all your responses is that there doesn't seem to be any 'best practice' in place It seems that doctors' surgeries can make up their own rules ! Isn't it a requirement that everyone, when they reach a certain age, are offered an MOT ? Surely this should be viewed as a preventative measure?

I have a suspicion that you want either a tiny, "boutique" practice like mine where everyone knows everyone, and knows what's going on or a big one.Some of the bigger GP surgeries with multiple doctors (like the one my parents were registered with) have a professional practice manager, who does attempt to establish "best practice", often very wellAnywhere in between, they are on the whole muddling throughThe thing is the NHS does not, on the whole, directly run GP practices, they are run by a partnership of GPs (rather like solicitors offices) The other problem is the totally disgraceful failure to get a universal electronic system for patient records across the NHS, which could automate so much of thisA good friend who was a GP retired quite early partly because she was tired of practice management (not patients, she loved them!)

You have hit the nail on the head Sue, what many people fail to understand is that GP surgeries are in effect privately run. E.g a single or group of like minded GP’s who have a contract to provide very basic NHS services. All the extras etc attract extra funding and they can pick and choose which ones they want to deliver. Therefore, you get a smorgasbord of services being provided by a range of providers. Great if your practice is forward thinking and activity engages with new initiatives, not so good if the opposite applies.

StokeySue wrote:The thing is the NHS does not, on the whole, directly run GP practices, they are run by a partnership of GPs (rather like solicitors offices) The other problem is the totally disgraceful failure to get a universal electronic system for patient records across the NHS, which could automate so much of this

Busybee wrote:You have hit the nail on the head Sue, what many people fail to understand is that GP surgeries are in effect privately run. E.g a single or group of like minded GP’s who have a contract to provide very basic NHS services. All the extras etc attract extra funding and they can pick and choose which ones they want to deliver. Therefore, you get a smorgasbord of services being provided by a range of providers. Great if your practice is forward thinking and activity engages with new initiatives, not so good if the opposite applies.

Thank you ladies for your explanation I still think it incredible though that those dealing with our health (or ill health) can have so much control over how patients are treated. There was an occasion when my BiL had to have regular blood tests as a result of his (consultant prescribed) medication for his RA .. The consultant asked him to obtain from his Dr the results, only to be told by the practice that there would be a charge ... This charge was swiftly refuted by the consultant !

Good Morning Wild Ones, I am waiting to see if the bin men are collecting the recycling bags this morning. Monday's routine collection did not happen until after 6 00pm.I must get organised I have a 9 00 am appointment

I was Wuzzled awake at 5.40am I think he was thanking me for sorting his chin........ I don't think so.....! It's a damp and breezy one but the birds are singing their hearts out. Whilst removing some brambles y'day I found Mrs. blackbird keeping a newly hatched warm. So that's where all the worms are going ! No sign of the mole for over a month now...... probably because there's no worms left !

Slow cooker has been on all night so might be soup for lunch......I tidied a cupboard and found some grains, soaked them and they were put in the SC in a net over night. They will go with the pork chops I bought - maybe tomorrow.

I have woken up to a beautiful thrush on the tree outside my window looking in at me, nosey so-and-so! I've got some laundry on the go and just trying to work out how to get it dry in here as this is absolutely not the right weather for testing out my washing line, plus I haven't found my peg bag yet. Oh the joys of moving. Unless I win the lottery, which I don't even do, this is home for good.

Halfway through typing this, my decorating pack has just been delivered as promised. Anyone got any overalls I can borrow?

Good morningI've booked a birdsong tour for Saturday week, hope we can hear the thrushes over the cacophony of wrens and parakeets. Chance to try out my new monocular Need to get on with my tidying up ahead of some building, and the new Virgin box turns up tomorrowMust make another

I came back via LIDL and have stocked up on essential items such as Vintage English Cheddar and succumbed to Chocolate Coated Sour Cherries . Just for once LIDL were stocking lamb, they even had legs of lamb, a rare item in Cyprus unless you know your butcher.The trip back was interesting due to road resurfacing, I did not believe the Road Closed sign, just for once it was correct. The road surfacing company is called Nemesis.

Good morning everyone,It took my son & his gf almost 10 hours to get to Cardiff due to the weather, it usually takes 7.5-8 hours!This morning I woke up around 6am to the sound of the rain battering off of the conservatory, I don't think it has stopped since so it was a good excuse to make a cuppa and snuggle back in bed with my book for a couple of hours. If it stays like this I don't think my pansies that arrived late yesterday afternoon will be getting potted on.At the moment I'm lacking inspiration over what to make for dinner tonight, after all the eating over Easter something simple I think

A soupy day here too. Ours is the end of the red pepper hummus, scrapulings of courgette, red onion, celery and some HM stock from the bones of the guinea fowl and other clean peelings. I might add a handful of small pasta or make some dumplings to cook in it. He's opted for dumplings. Might even add some paprika to the dumpling mix.

Amazingly, I have managed to get a consultative appt. on Friday for my broken tooth with a promised ending of it being out by the end of April. Not the advised 7/8 weeks by my dental surgery...

We have a paddling pool where cement is meant to be laid tomorrow. If it is too bad, a pump will be brought to site to remove the water.

icelesley wrote:Good morning wild ones. We are back to rain again, possibly with thunder later I will not be going out today

So were we and it happened with the most terrific bang and one of my 200 year old Delft plates just jumping off the wall and smashing on the tiles. C'est la vie, but I am rather upset it was very precious to me. Could have been the roof though.

Once the rain subsided we went into town through great pools of water and of course empty shelves in the supermarket. Just in time simply doesn't happen in this supermarket. The excuses we were given included "The rail strike, the holiday on Monday, the weather, It was rather noticable that, while there was no milk, only a few different butters and none of our usual coffee there was a huge run of shelves with Easter eggs and chocolates all reduced to half price

Cooking for those you care about is the most profound expression of love - Anne-Sophie Pic

My daily plans have been interrupted by a very nice looking man tapping on my door with a tape measure wanting to measure me up for a new front door. Totally unexpected and thank goodness I was decent! I'm going for bright red paintwork with silver knobs. This is, after all, a Manchester United residence. I've just got to message my Spurs fan Uncle to prepare himself for the massive red overdose when he visits. He may hate me. Oh well!

Preparations for Easter are in progress, the bonfire is being constructed outside the church, this is to enable an effigy of Judas to be burnt on Good Friday. The new church hall seems to be finished. The food shops are crowded, think of Christmas in the UK.

Meanwhile the good news is that the scent of the lime blossom is so strong that I can smell it in the kitchen, it is only a little tree.

We haven't had any more crashes and bangs but we have since found out that several things jumped off walls in the hameau, so our neighbour is looking into us being declared "sinistree" which would mean insurance - how we would manage that I really can't imagine. Must finish up ready to watch MC. See you tomorrow,

Cooking for those you care about is the most profound expression of love - Anne-Sophie Pic

Good Morning Wild Ones, I have been trawling through the Cyprus Mail site, there was a short article about Halloumi smuggling but it seems to have disappeared. A man was arrested at one of the crossing points from Northern Cyprus as he was found to have three containers of Halloumi and lots of eggs. Halloumi is a very serious matter

Good morning all Sunshine and showers so far this morning ... at least that seems seasonable. I wonder whether we'll be able to get into the garden again today...OH has put in a request for a sausage and bean casserole today.